Meaning of sfigato in Italian
Sfigato is the Italian translation for unlucky. However, more often than not, it’s used as an insult for someone who is considered unsuccessful or uncool, a “loser”.
| Origin | From a word that you shouldn’t say out loud and that designates a woman’s private parts… + s prefix that means “without” |
| Pronunciation | /sfiˈɡaːto/ |
Sfigato
Unlucky, loser
The initial s- is a prefix that means “without”, so sfigato actually means “without c-word”: somebody who’s so unlucky they can’t hook up with anyone. From sfigato you get the colloquial word sfiga, which means “rotten luck”.
A feminine version exists, sfigata.
Sfigato in Italian: Different forms
Like most nouns in Italian, sfigato has two articles (definite or indefinite articles) and two numbers (singular or plural).
Uno sfigato
A loser
Degli sfigati
Some losers
Lo sfigato
The loser
Gli sfigati
The losers
Sfigato in Italian: Examples
Luca mi ha appena dato dello sfigato!
Luca just called me a loser!
Ho rotto i pantaloni nuovi. Che sfiga!
I broke my new pants. What a bummer!
Sono sfigata in amore. Non ho ancora trovato il ragazzo giusto.
I am unlucky in love. I haven’t found the right guy yet.
Sfigato in Italian: Related words
Sfigato can also mean “nerd” or “dweeb”. This is pejorative.
Paolo è lo sfigato della classe.
Paul is the class dweed.
Elena è una sfigata, non indossa mai abiti firmati.
Elena is a loser, she never wears designer clothes.
When talking about places, it also means “lame”.
Non vorrai tornare in quel ristorante sfigato con i tavoli di plastica?
You don’t want to go back to that lame restaurant with the plastic tables, do you?
Trivia
In the movie Meet the Parents with Robert de Niro and Ben Stiller, there’s a cat called Jinx. This has been localized into Italian as sfigatto, a wordplay based on sfiga, “rotten luck”, and gatto, “cat”!
More free Italian resources
You might want to keep learning Italian online with these free Italian resources:
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